Alone in Monte Alban

Blue and green. The day we visited Monte Alban was a rare one. Crystal clear skies and the site was spectacularly green with all the rain of the last month. September is normally a quiet month in Oaxaca with schools starting there are no tourists. This is not a normal year. There are really no tourists. So we had the place almost to ourselves, To be almost alone in this large ancient city atop the mountains was surreal. The scale and grandeur of Monte Alban tell of how advanced a culture it was that created it.

The site sits high overlooking a convergence of valleys. It took hundreds of years to create. They literally took off the top of a mountain to build it. Not only did they take the top off but they created an expansive plane that would challenge modern technologies. And they did it all by hand. They did not use the wheel. It’s use was reserved for toys. Manual labor created the site originally and it created the restoration,
which has been done to the highest of standards.

I have watched workers at Monte Alban and throughout the city. I remember watching them work on restoring the museum in town. I could see how Monte Alban was built. Here were men carrying large blocks of stone on their shoulders and climbing hand-made ladders. The walls at the museum are eight meters high and are built with the same craftsmanship that one finds at Monte Alban, Mitla and the other archaeological sites.

Plus there is a remarkable sense of wonder and awe that one always feels in these spots.

Imagine being alone in Chichen Izta, Palenque or Machu Picchu. That was the day we had in Monte Alban.

The infrared photo is by Sonya.